Older Mind Matters

The power of language

Mental health. What do you understand that to mean?

Of course by mental health we often mean mental ill-health: “I’m seeing someone about my mental health”, “he’s an in-patient in a mental health unit”. How come mental health is used to mean mental ill-health? What is that about? People talk about the stigma of mental health – isn’t it the stigma of mental ill-health that we should be talking about? After all don't we all aspire to mental health?

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

So health is mental and physical, not just one or the other. And can I be healthy if I have an ongoing physical or mental condition? For example, what if I’ve got diabetes (stable on treatment) or a bipolar illness (stable on treatment) or even both? Tricky isn’t it, (and maybe even more tricky if we bring social well-being into consideration).